Northern and southern flying squirrels are interfertile species. I did not know this.
And just as the coyote is a major threat to the red wolf through hybridization, the southern flying squirrel is a threat to the northern species.
West Virginia has a unique subspecies of the northern flying squirrel called the Virginia northern flying squirrel. It is native to the forests of the High Alleghenies.
It was once on the Endangered List. Now, it is considered Threatened.
I can tell you stories about my adventures with southern flying squirrels that will blow your mind.
I once had one in my bed!
For about 15 years in my 30s and 40s I had the great fortune of basically unfettered access to an uncle’s cabin in northern Minnesota. (He lived in Arizona and rarely, if ever, came to visit.) He bought the land (40 tax-delinquent acres) in 1949 for a $1/acre and built a one room hunting shack on it. It was landlocked, on a spring-fed lake – no electricity, no running water (but a fully functional outdoor well), no indoor plumbing. One year a flying squirrel built a nest and had her babies in the outhouse. She could have cared less that we were there doing our thing 4-6 days a month. Depending on one’s, um, regularity, it was a perfect seat from which to view the maturation of a flying squirrel family.
When my uncle retired he built a road, added electricity, put in a septic tank, etc., to make the place more comfortable for him and his wife during the summers. Then he sold the whole place for a shat-load of $$$…. Good for him. Bad for me….
I trust you protected yourself
You can’t protect yourself from something that drops on your head while you are sleeping, especially when it’s the size of a lemon and furry.
Let’s just say he got the heck out of dodge when I jumped out of bed.
Willie, tell your dad that I will have his letter fully edited by tomorrow afternoon.
Perhaps my comment should start with “It was a dark and stormy night.” Because it was.
My first experience with a flying squirrel (northern, I expect, since I was living in north-eastern Massachusetts at the time) began with a crash, followed by the loud noise of two cats and a Samoyed running up the basement stairs, across the kitchen and hall floors and into the living room where I was reading. Just a few feet in front of them was a small, furry creature that I originally assumed was a chipmunk. The creature sprang onto a lower rung of cherrywood & glass shelving case, then ran up to the top shelf, about seven feet above the floor, with dog and cats at the base.
This was not the first time a small woodland creature had found it’s way into my house. The first time it happened, I looked up from ironing a shirt to find myself eye to eye with a chipmunk that had scaled a pole-lamp to escape the cats & dog. In that case, I donned leather gloves, distracted the animal with one hand, and grabbed it with the other. An easy grab and release outdoors.
So on this day, I approached the shelves, looking up at the furry creature, trying to decide how to get this little guy out of the house without bringing in a ladder and a net. I got about six feet from the shelves when our visitor launched himself, extended his legs, and sailed down the length of the room. The dog, cats & I just stood there, with all of our mouths gaping open. Then I herded the pets into a bedroom and Joe & I guided the flying squirrel toward the open front door.
Our unwelcome visitor ran out the door, and then stopped, looked at the heavy rain just outside. He half-turned. considering a return to the drier conditions inside our house. He probably figured that he could dodge/or out glide the much slower canine and feline residents and stay warm and dry until daybreak. Wen he turned back to our door, Joe & I stepped towared our unwelcome visitor, and he decided to find another shelter for the stormy night…
Actually, it was probably a Southern flying squirrel.
Range map for the Southern: http://www.flyingsquirrels.com/Rangemaps/sfs_map_usa.html
Range map for the Northern: http://www.flyingsquirrels.com/Rangemaps/nfs_map_usa.html
The names are screwy for these animals. The northern species is found mostly in mixed and boreal-type forests. We actually have these in West Virginia.
My parent’s live in the middle of the forest and they also had a northern flying squirrel visit them one night a couple years ago. Apparently came in an open window and got the cats and dog all excited. Dad thought it was a squirrel until he caught it and found the skin flaps under its little arms.
They’re super cute. I’m not surprised sugar gliders (not related, but look very similar) are becoming more popular as pets.
I love when sugar gliders make little buzzing sounds.
Flying squirrels (southern) are commonly sold as pets: http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/squirrels/p/flyingsquirrel.htm
Because the northern species is a threatened in my state, it is not looked upon as a good thing to have a pet flying squirrel.
However, I’ve read that they are excellent pets and bond very strongly to people.
Keeping them as pets was common even in the colonial period: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:J_S_Copley_-_Boy_with_Squirrel.jpg